Bodybuilding FAQ - How to Fix Commom Bodybuilding Diet Problems?

By Lee Labrada

Obstacle 5: I’m getting leaner but I’ve lost some of my vascularity.

Vascularity is a term used to describe visible, prominent veins on top of muscles. It’s a quality that many bodybuilders covet. If vascularity is important to you, keep in mind that it is contingent on blood volume and blood volume changes. Blood volume in turn depends on fluid intake.

My advice is to keep water intake as high as possible. I normally consume up to one gallon of water per day when undergoing an intense diet.

Low carbohydrate intake may also result in diminished vascularity. If your muscles are depleted of glycogen, it is important to replenish them by increasing complex carbohydrate intake periodically. I recommend that one day per week during your dieting phase, you increase your complex carbohydrate intake by at least 50% in order to keep your muscles from going flat and your vascularity prominent.

Obstacle 6: I don't have any energy anymore.

This is the result of either cutting your calories back too far for too long or overtraining. Review your training program and if you feel that you are overtraining and are showing some of the symptoms of over training (unusual soreness, fatigue, lack of appetite, difficulty sleeping, catching colds) then take a few days off from your program to recover and adjust.

If taking a few days off doesn’t work, you may want to increase your calories by 500-800 calories per day primarily from complex carbohydrate for a couple of days, to see if that helps.

Review your supplement intake to make sure that you’re getting all of the nutrients you need to support your level of exercise. I use up to 3 Lean Body Ready to Drink high-protein nutrition drinks every day to ensure that I get all of the protein and nutrients that I need to keep my muscle nourished. I recommend that you do the same as additional nutritional assurance.

Obstacle 7: I seem to have lost some muscle.

Keep in mind that your muscle, or lean body mass, will always fluctuate up and down. Because muscle is made up of approximately 70% water, dehydration is usually the problem when it appears that one has lost muscle tissue.

As I mentioned before, I drink up to one gallon of water per day to insure that my body and my muscles have all of the fluid that they need.

Carbohydrate intake will also have an effect on your lean body mass. Remember that muscles store glycogen and glycogen pulls water into muscles. While it’s important to measure your body composition at least weekly, never make a dramatic adjustment in your diet based on the results of just one body fat composition. You should look at a couple of body composition tests taken over a two-week period before you make any dramatic adjustments in your diet.

Examine your protein intake and make sure that you’re getting enough protein for your body weight. I normally recommend 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. One easy way to ensure that you’re getting enough protein is to use a high quality protein blend such as my ProV60 protein blend.

Well, there you have it. These are some of the common obstacles that you may find on the road to building your lean body. I promise you that if you follow the solutions provided to any of these problems and you stick to your bodybuilding program, a lean body will be yours in no time.

Yours for a Leaner Body,

Lee Labrada

About The Author

Lee Labrada, is a former IFBB Mr. Universe and IFFB Pro World Cup winner. He is one of few men in history to place in the top four in the Mr. Olympia seven consecutive times, and was recently inducted into the IFBB Pro Bodybuilding Hall of Fame. Lee is President/CEO of Houston-based Labrada Nutrition.